Quote:
Originally Posted by
iacas 
Those SC tools are too thick AND they encourage the wrong form.
I believe that you use the proper form, but that doesn't change the fact that the tines or prongs are too thick. It'll be faster and easier with thinner prongs to repair greens effectively.
If a person has never been taught/shown how to push the dirt/turf back into place I'm not sure how any different tool will help them learn to do that. I do agree that second place goes to the ones on the far right in the pics and the "copper" ones work great too. I will stay with my belief that the SC is the best tool out there, and I've used used them all. Guess we'll just disagree on this one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
joekelly 
I had one of the fat prong items. But i filed the prongs to make them much thinner and sharper, although even now the prongs are not flat. The grip is rounded and quite adequate. I believe for most golfers the 'correct' use of this tool is unknown. They, the ignorant ones, just dig around. and maybe cause more damage. A good research topic for a senior undergrad agronomy student.
They seldom if ever "cause more damage". I remember a poster that used to hang in the pro shop of a course I played regularly in the late 70's early 80's. It was photos of divots that had been immediately repaired, repaired several hours later and not repaired at all. These divots were then photographed after a day, after several days and then after a week. Any attempt, no matter how amateurish, was better than no attempt at all. Bottom line, repair your divots, do your best, the greens will heal if given half a chance, they do struggle if given no chance.